Sūtsu
by Marie9
Summary: Kaitou Kid finds himself unexpectedly having competition with a fellow kaitou who also appears to be after jewels specifically, and Kuroba Kaito decides to get to the bottom of it in a hurry. And of course a certain shrunken meitantei has to poke his nose into things, too...


YAY for finally having regular access to a computer (after LITERALLY YEARS!) Expect silly little one or two shots like this and updates to 64 Observations while I catch myself up on the DC manga! Looking forward to FINALLY writing regularly again! (HAD to do this someday, shoutout to my first anime/manga fandom ever (the horrible DIC dub even!) crossed over with one of my most beloved anime/manga fandoms, in a way that hopefully makes sense and is enjoyable.) Hope everyone enjoys this two shot :D!

* * *

"That's a...very strange and sudden wardrobe change for you, young master." Konsuke Jii half shoved the early edition of the day's paper at Kuroba Kaito with a deep frown, a drying coffee ring slowly staining the crime section of the paper as the two talked at the currently closed Blue Parrot, the early morning light just beginning to filter through the windows of the billiards parlor. "I _also_ didn't realize you'd decided to start working alone all of a sudden. A little warning that you wanted to try a solo heist would have been nice, hmm? Having to find out about this via the newspaper _rather_ upset me."

Kaito quirked an eyebrow in puzzlement as he took the paper from the older man. "What the heck are you talking about, Jii-chan?" He scanned the paper quickly, trying to find what his cohort in crime was confronting him about. "I haven't even _planned_ or pulled a heist since the one we pulled two-" He interrupted himself mid-sentence as he took in the headline, eyes widening with disbelief.

 _ **A NEW LOOK FOR KAITOU KID? PHANTOM THIEF FILCHES THE CROW'S EYE FROM THE BEIKA HISTORY MUSEUM IN DARING MOONLIGHT HEIST!**_

 **KID Task Force completely baffled at sudden change in outfit and M.O.- What could it mean?**

 ** _Look out for your valuable gems, Tokyo! International Criminal 1412 has changed his signature look- and also changed his habit of notifying the police._**

The magician-thief glanced down from the article and studied the pictures that the paper had placed across a two page spread. A guy that looked roughly around his age was depicted ducking into the closed down at the time museum through a carefully cut window- and the intruder was dressed in a classic black tuxedo and black top hat, flashy red and black cape with a white shirt and a red rose sticking out of the suit's lapel. The other man was also using a white masquerade mask to somewhat cover his face, and Kaito gave Jii an annoyed glare after he finished studying the photos. " _Really_ , Jii-chan? This guy is probably a good three or four inches taller than me based on eyeballing him going through that window, looks older though granted that can be hard to tell sometimes, and most importantly is _in black_." He couldn't help but grin broadly and add "Points to the guy for style, though."

"Well your task force and the rest of the police- not to mention the public- sure seem to assume it's you trying something new." Jii blinked and tilted his head. "Wait...that _wasn't_ you trying something new? I assumed it was a new persona that you were trying out, though why you wanted to retire Kid so abruptly had me wondering."

Kaito rolled his eyes in annoyment, shaking his head before he spoke though his tone was patient. "What did I _just_ get done saying?" He waved the paper around before jabbing at it, pointing to the color picture of the filched diamond that had been provided. "Besides, check out these pictures of the Crow's Eye- nothing that looks like there might be another gem in there. It's just a very big and very nice, but _also_ very ordinary diamond. No special lighting tricks or different colors in it or anything, the kind of stuff we usually look for in our Pandora targets."

"Well, I...err, assumed, based on how he was dressed and his target- I thought perhaps you were trying to throw the task force off the scent or something like that, actually. I'm certain the police made similar assumptions." Jii attempted to sound conciliatory. "If that _wasn't_ you, however, and it doesn't sound like it was...you appear to have some competition now, hmm?" The older man was very worried, though he tried to not let it show in his tone - who _was_ this other masked man, exactly, and did he pose any danger to Kaito? Why had he suddenly shown up in Tokyo, and what goals did he have aside from the obvious one of filching valuable jewels?

"Tch." Kaito smirked and shrugged as he sipped on a cup of coffee. "I suppose we'll have to try and track this other guy down and have a little chat about trying to steal my loot- _and_ my look." He closely studied the other thief and snickered a bit. "Oh _man_ , I bet Hakuba's going _absolutely_ _nuts_ about this. I may have to try and see what I can get out of him during class today- knowing him, he's already doing research and probably found something." Grudgingly and only ever to himself, Kaito had to admit that the half-Brit was a regular bloodhound when he wanted to be, _and_ damned good at it-which, unfortunately for his white-clad alter ego, was most of the time.

Jii sighed. "Are you _really_ certain you should bring it up, particularly with Hakuba Saguru? I mean, it may look suspicious, especially because you're mentioned that he seems to be fairly confident that you're Kaitou Kid." There'd been more than one conversation in the past between the pair about Kaito switching classes to help protect his identity, but he steadfastly refused.

Kaito waved a hand dismissively. "Nah, I bet it'll be the talk of school today, and Hakuba will join right in. If he thinks that _is_ me, all the deviations from what I normally do are probably throwing him for one _hell_ of a loop."

* * *

At school later that morning, Kaito grinned internally as he realized as soon as Hakuba walked into their classroom that he'd 100% called it. _Hah! Looks like he hasn't slept all night, and check out that pile of papers and file folders under his arm!_ The half-Brit gave Kaito a sleepy and sour, if puzzled look before going over to his desk and almost slumping into it, highly unusual for the almost always perfectly put together meitantei. Saguru then produced a large thermos of tea and poured it into a porcelain cup that he'd been carrying safely somehow in one of his pockets, the blonde almost sucking the beverage down and quickly refilling the cup. "Oy! Hakuba, you alright over there?"

Saguru gave the other a boy a glare that could have frozen an iceberg by way of reply before the others of Class 2-B began to filter in for the day, conversation slowly growing louder and eventually filling the room with noise before their sensei came in and the room rose to bow and greet their first of the class's teachers for the day.

"So, how about that heist last night, eh?" Kaito couldn't help but wander to the meitantei's desk after he'd seen Saguru heading back to his desk and twist the knife a little on their first break as the din of chatter began, the response from Saguru an imperious stare before the magician-thief finally got a reply out of the other boy. _C'mon, Hakuba, spill your guts. What do you know about this other guy?_ Unfortunately, Kaito knew it would be an uphill battle, and he would have to be very careful in how he approached getting the information that he could lest he make up the blonde's mind even more than it already was that Kuroba Kaito was also Kaitou Kid.

"International Criminal 1412 appears to have some competition now," Saguru replied mildly before re-taking his seat. "Unlike the KID Task Force, I have my suspicions that last night's thief was not Kid at all, but someone else entirely. There are several things that don't add up when you look at everything, the complete lack of advance notice to either the gem's owner or police and the drastically different costume he wore among them." He gave Kaito a pointed stare after finishing the sentence. "I'm going to be curious to see how Kid responds. I can't imagine he'll take someone horning in on his territory like this lying down."

Kaito made a noise under his breath. "Ah. I figured he'd decided to change up his M.O. up or something, catch the task force by surprise. Weird though, huh? He's always put on a big show in the past and made a point of showing himself and giving lots of notice, why the sudden change?"

You _tell_ me _, Kuroba_ , had rolled around in Saguru's mind and on his tongue before the other boy finally decided to reply with a carefully nonchalant "Yes, very strange indeed. There are _far_ too many divergences from Kid's normal methods for last night's thief to be Kid at all, in my opinion." _I know that wasn't you at that museum last night, Kuroba, but who_ was _it?_ Saguru could tell that Kaito seemed to be carefully if desperately fishing for information himself, unfortunately- maybe Kaito _didn't_ know who the black and red-clad thief was after all, as Saguru had been thinking.

"Oh, are you two talking about the new thief that robbed the museum last night?" Aoko apparently had overheard them, joining the pair at Saguru's desk and shaking her head sadly. "Man, is Dad getting driven up a wall! He doesn't think it was Kid at all, but almost the whole rest of the task force is convinced that it's just Kid changing up how he does things suddenly."

"Kuroba and I were indeed discussing that, actually. Since he's such a fanboy of Kid, I felt he might offer some... _unique_ insight on the situation." Saguru gave Kaito another pointed look before pouring more tea.

"Yeah, it's a real head scratcher." Kaito frowned and shook his head, showing his actual puzzlement and frustration for just a moment, letting his poker face slip just enough for good effect before mentally sliding it back into place. "Gotta wonder if this'll be a one off or if this other thief will try and steal more stuff, too."

Saguru sighed and shook his head. "We can just hope that Kid won't get into a competition with this new rogue. His No One Gets Hurt policy may come back to squarely bite him if the other man turns out to be dangerous."

Kaito suddenly had an idea- a _very_ interesting idea, if it worked, and he hoped it would. Perhaps instead of searching for this other thief, he could _make_ this black-clad rogue come to him so Kid could engage him in a round of Twenty Questions. Or, even better yet, figure out the location of and preempt his fellow kaitou at his next heist and throw him off balance before the interrogation. Yeah, now _that_ was a plan.

The bell to return to class rang and snapped Kaito out of his thoughts, signalling the end of the class's break, and everyone shuffled back to their desks to await their next sensei. Kaito pulled out his phone and quickly texted Jii, making sure that none of his classmates (especially a certain blonde meitantei) could see his screen, even though he was careful with his phrasing, as he always was.

 **Jii-chan. We've got some work to do tonight.**


End file.
